Reply #4: r.e. having your mind made up

[Don Claybrook]

I think I know exactly what you're talking about. To someone who is not in the middle of quitting smoking, it might not make a lot of sense. After all, there have been lots of times when I've "had my mind made up" that tomorrow, I'll quit smoking. And of course that never happened.

But with each hour, each day that I don't smoke, my mind really is more made up that I don't smoke, that I'm not a smoker. I try to imagine situations that would cause me to smoke, and barring some awful and catastrophic thing happening, I am so far not coming up with any reason that I would want to pick up a cigarette.

I even have a plan to drink a bottle of wine under very controlled conditions, just to make sure that I don't start smoking again when I have an alcoholic drink. I'll probably wait a couple of weeks for that one.

The reason I asked about the patches is because it occurs to me that I'm breaking a psychological habit right now, but I'm not breaking a physical addiction, since I'm getting a good amount of nicotine from my left arm. But I like your attitude about it--you're not going to let it become a problem, because you're no longer a smoker. I'm going to see if I can officially adopt that mindset.

Continued good luck to you.